How thumbnails build viewer trust

How can I get prospects to watch my Vidyard videos when they're often trained to NOT click links in cold emails? I get this question every time I do a Video Prospecting training class, and it's an important one to get right. Here's my best advice: ⏯ When sending a video message in a prospecting email, remember this: Your email has 1 job to do. It's not to book a meeting. It's to get them to click PLAY. That's it. Everything should be oriented around that goal. If they watch your video, you make a stronger first impression, and you can ask for the meeting at the end of the video. 📩 Include short copy (2-to-3 sentences) before the video thumbnail/link to set context and create an irresistible reason for WHY they should watch the video. Use that copy to pique their interest and create a curiosity gap. Here's a simple framework: 1. Observation / Hook ("I noticed... / I was wondering...") 2. Bridge ("I mention that because... / The reason I ask...") 3. Video CTA ("I made you this 1-minute video to...") 🖼 Your video thumbnail is worth a thousand words. If the thumbnail image shows something that is personalized to your prospect, they'll be much more likely to trust it and to click the link. It could be their name written on a whiteboard, or a screen recording video (with your camera on as well) with something they will recognize behind you - ideally something relevant you discovered during your research. 🎬 Your call-to-action copy below the thumbnail image should NOT say something like "Can we find 15 minutes to chat?" A bold ask like that will turn a lot of people off and hinder their desire to click PLAY (remember, people tend to skim the first and last lines of emails before choosing whether or not to dive into the middle). Instead, it should say something to create added urgency to watch the video. For example: "Have you already tried something like what I suggested in the video?" or "Is the problem I showed in the video something your team is facing as well?" 👇🏽 Check out the snapshot below for an example of these tips in action, and feel free to use it as a helpful reference. 💡 Bonus Tips 💡 > Use video in the second or third email of your outbound sequence, rather than the first. Ideally, you will have already left a voicemail, sent an initial text-only email, and engaged with them on social BEFORE sending the video. This will increase the chance that they'll trust you're a real human with a reputation to preserve. > Reinforce (or 'preinforce') the video via other channels. Leave a voicemail saying "I made you a video and sent it to your inbox." Include "I'm going to send you a quick video..." in your LinkedIn connect request. Your email that follows the one with the video should say "would love your feedback on the video I made for you in the last email" > Send the video link via other channels such as a LinkedIn DM or even a WhatsApp message (if you're at that level with your prospect). Any other tips?

Popping Colors and Good Contrast ≠ Good Thumbnails. Here’s the truth: You don’t need insane contrast, neon glows, or over-edited faces for your thumbnails to work. So what does work? 🔹 Authenticity Thumbnails that feel real and honest build trust. They don't scream at you—they invite you in. 🔹 Understanding your audience Design choices should start with the viewer in mind. What makes them click? What feels native to their feed? 🔹 Context matters A calm, muted thumbnail can outperform a loud one—if it aligns with the topic and the people you're speaking to. I’ve seen thumbnails with low contrast, soft tones, and zero text perform incredibly—because they were made for the right audience (just like the examples below) Don't design for designers, Design for the people you're trying to reach.

This tiny thing increased our podcast CTR by 40%. If you want to succeed on YouTube, you need to get serious about thumbnails.  Thumbnails are how you get discovered - it’s how you very quickly communicate why your video is interesting. In that ONE image, you’ve got to somehow communicate the content, the brand and the emotion, and also stand out. So they may be small, but they are very significant 😉 How significant? When Rony Karadi redesigned our thumbnails, it increased the CTR by 40%. 5 key learnings (beyond the obvious of using high-quality images): 👍 Focus on peoples’ faces with an emotional expression 👍 Be provocative - the copy on our thumbnails used to be the name & title of the guest, and now it’s an enticing statement or question 👍 Design the copy - make sure said copy is large enough and legible on mobile, and try different sizes and colors to emphasize certain words (it should look the way it would sound if someone was saying it out loud) 👍 Run tons of A/B tests - we’ve experimented with using a statement vs. a question (see below results), or changing the design while leaving the copy the same, we’ve even tested colors - but whenever you run a test, only test one thing at a time in order to understand what affected the change, otherwise there are too many variables and you don't know why you succeeded (or failed) 👍 Every so often, pull up one of your videos and see what recommendations appear around it in YouTube, bc ppl will see your thumbnail among many others and it’s good practice to see whether you are noticeable in the midst of everything else The main challenge with thumbnails is staying on brand - you want to balance performance and quality. You don't want to create crappy, neon yellow click-baity images that look trashy and cheapen your brand. You also don’t want to mislead the viewer - while it might get you more views initially, it will hurt your brand and credibility in the long run. Thank you to Uri Ar and Rony Karadi for mastering this at Aleph 💪 And listen to our latest episode of Invested with Roland Fryer in the comments below 👇

Swapping in customer logos lifted engagement on our case study hub by 25%. Here’s what changed: We used to feature design work from our team as the thumbnail for each case study. But after looking at how larger brands handled their customer stories, we made a small shift - we replaced those visuals with recognizable client logos. The impact was immediate. Why does it work? - Logos build instant trust and credibility - Well-known brands create stronger click intent - Top companies consistently use logos instead of abstract visuals We’ve started rolling this out for clients with high-profile customers, and they're seeing a similar lift. If your case studies feature well-known brands, this is a small change that can drive meaningful results. See how we’re implementing it across our case study hub (or, as we call them at Siege, Customer Stories):